A Little Holiday Music

My favorite song to end the holiday season.

A Little Bit of Christmas Magic

To our shock, the San Antonio police called GK this morning. They retrieved his Challenger. Apparently, the dumbass thief had left the expired temp tag on the car, and that's how he got pulled over.

We all thought we'd never see the vehicle again. That it had already been chopped or was in Mexico by Christmas night.

The Neteru answered my prayer, even though a car is not the end all/be all of the universe. But damn, my family needed something to go right this year, and it broke my heart seeing my baby so upset.

Christmas miracles really do exist.

Last Week of the Year

This is normally when I take stock of the year and plan out projects for the next.

2022 was NOT a good year. (Read it in Judy Geller's voice, aka the fabulous Cristina Pickles from Friends.)

I'm nearly 250K behind in my annual word count. Delayed one novel and dropped the ball on two others that I'm trying to finish. Whatever free time I scheduled was utterly taken over by personal stuff.

Four deaths in the family. In fact, I have paperwork from the attorney for my mom's estate I need to fill out and return. DH and his sisters have been doing their best to clean out their parents' house. Some of this was stalled by one sister breaking her wrist and another one contracting COVID-19.

The kicker was the text we got from GK in the wee hours of Christmas morning. He left his apartment to head to work (military works 24/7/365), only to find broken glass where his car had been parked. We were on the phone with him for a total of four hours. The first hour was when he was waiting for the police to come. The other three were after he got home later that night.

I was proud of him for dealing with the police and the insurance company, or what he could get done since this was a major holiday. But he needed to vent last night. Today was the first day of his leave, and he planned to come home. And his car being stolen was the cherry on top of a series of crap in trying to get his leave lined up.

GK made an appearance at his staff sergeant's Christmas party last night, but he didn't get falling down drunk. He was determined that hell or high water, he was driving home for his leave.

So while we wait for his arrival today, I'm looking at my calendar. My first half of 2023 will be spent catching up on all the projects. By catching up, I mean writing. I probably won't publish anything new for the next six months that doesn't already have an pre-order date.

After I update and release everything I need to, then I'll see about the projects of the heart I want to write. Most of those are already listed on the work in progress list on my reader website.

It's the best I can do. I didn't realize how shredded emotionally I was until today. I'm not even hoping the last seven days of the year will be smooth. I just want to survive them without having a mental breakdown.

A Little Holiday Music

It's not Christmas without a little Mariah!

Winter Storms and Cozy Christmases

Bing Crosby didn't sing about a bomb cyclone for Christmas. But between blizzard conditions tonight and one of DH's sisters coming down with COVID, we will be spending a very quiet long Christmas weekend at home.

Heck, I'm even prepared for the possibility of not being able to pick up our Christmas order from Cinnabon in Lima. If the wind is as fierce as predicted for Saturday, ODOT (the Ohio Department of Transportation for those outside of the U.S.) will close I-75 and other north-south roads in our flat-as-a-pancake part of Ohio.

Drifting and white-out conditions are not something to laugh at here. An elderly couple froze to death in our county a few years ago after their car got stuck in a snow drift. The sad part is they were only yards from a house where they could have taken shelter, except they couldn't see the house or its lights in the blowing snow.

Anyway, I have extra flour and yeast to make my own cinnamon rolls if we can't go to Lima Saturday morning. I'm making sure all of our devices are charged. I've got paper books, candles, and lots of blankets if we lose power.

Frankly, I like the idea of just me, DH, and Princess Bella for Christmas. GK will be coming home on leave after the storm system has blown itself into the Atlantic.

Yep, this is the kind of holiday I can deal with.

Monday Movie Mania - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

This may be the last theater viewing DH and I do for a while. Just when I started to get comfortable going to the local cinema again, COVID, RSV, and flu rates started climbing in our section of Ohio. The rates are high enough most of my doctors have gone back to requiring masks in their office for both staff and patients. And even in the offices that aren't requiring masks, more and more people are voluntarily wearing them as a precaution.

But enough about that.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever provoked an intense emotional reaction from the audience, though not the same emotions as the original Black Panther. One kid stood up and cheered. The rest of the audience, men and women, young and old, black and white, were bawling their eyes out.

* * * * *

SPOILERS

* * * * *

PROS

1) The beginning and ending of the movies were amazing tributes to both T'Challa and Chadwick Boseman. The end especially was the reason we were all crying.

2) Leticia Wright claimed the mantle of Black Panther as expected and did an excellent job as the lead.

3) The revision of the Sub-Mariner's storyline was essential because it's practically the same as Aquaman's in the comics. The writers gave a little more sympathetic storyline to Namor, and Tenoch Huerta Mejia beautifully pulled off the revised Namor.

4) Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, makes her debut. I think I'm in love with Dominique Thorne. All the replacements for the original six Avengers is now complete for Marvel's Stage Four.

5) The cameo by Michael B. Jordan expands Shuri's grief and anger at failing to save her brother.

6) M'Baku and Shuri's agreement on how affairs in Wakanda will be handled showed a maturity in both characters.

7) General Okoye. 'Nuff said.

CONS

1) How they handled Queen Ramonda pissed me off because I love, love love Angela Bassett. She always provides a wonderful, nuanced performance in everything she does.

Chadwick Boseman was on his way to becoming one of the greatest American actors of all time. His talent brought a grace and humanity to a role that could have been treated as a joke. His loss over the same stupid disease that nearly killed DH just fucking kills me. But everyone involved in the making of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lived up to Chadwick's talent and ideals. They made a movie that was a wonderful homage to both the character and the actor. And Leticia Wright earned her stripes as the new Black Panther.

Overall, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earn 10 stars out of 10.

A Little Holiday Music

Seeing Trans Siberian Orchestra live beats any videos!

Ready for 2022 to Be Over!!

I got through my medical appointments, bought new computer glasses, and picked up the last prescriptions of the year. All I needed to do was get my COVID booster next week.

But if you're reading this on Friday morning, I'm back at the eye doctor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have pink eye, but...

Anyway, whatever is causing the itching, burning, and tearing (not allergies or the drops I have for that would be working) makes it hard to see the computer screen. So I called yesterday afternoon, and thankfully, they had an opening this morning.

Here's to no more shit for the last two weeks of the year! And I can finish my projects without any more craziness!

Monday Movie Mania - Ticket to Paradise

I attended this movie with my friend Becky when I visited her in Missouri. We tried to get together for my birthday weekend, but the plans fell through at the last minute because of her work schedule.

Ticket to Paradise is a cute, little romcom reuniting George Clooney and Julia Roberts as their characters deal with their daughter's upcoming nuptials to a man and a lifestyle they think is wrong.

 

*****

SPOILERS

*****

 

PROS

1) George and Julia still have the chemistry they had in the Ocean's series. In fact, David and Georgia come across as Danny and Tess twenty years after their second divorce.

2) Billie Lourd steals the movie as Lily's best friend Wren.

3)  A hat tip to Lucas Bravo's performance as Georgia's boyfriend Paul. I actually felt sorry for the character when Georgia dumps him to rekindle things with her ex.

CONS

1) It's a fun Saturday night popcorn movie you won't remember two days later.

 

Overall, I give Ticket to Paradise 5 out of 10 stars. It's not bad, but it's not memorable either. Wait until it hits a streaming service to watch it.

A Little Holiday Music

I forgot to set up music videos for the rest of the month, so here's a late treat from the magnificent Lindsey Stirling!

Writing thru the Holidays

There's so much pressure on people these days to have a perfect holiday that most folks forget to do a little self-care.

If you're not writing during the holidays, maybe you need to look at it as something other than an item to cross off on your to-do list. Look at it as a fun, private thing you do to keep your sanity.

Seriously, folks. This is part of how I keep my own blood pressure under control. In fact, my doc lowered my dosage twice since I started writing full time.

It doesn't mean you MUST write on your current wip.

Write a holiday story. Write a funny story for your kids. Write a poem for your significant other. Write new song lyrics for your favorite tune.

Or vent in your journal about how crazy your family makes you. (Been there. Done that.)

The point is writing should not be part of the load our society places on your shoulders. Writing should let you find a release from all that pressure.

If you think I'm blowing smoke up your ass, here's my holiday issues:

DH's dad and my mom passed away this year. We're hosting DH's sisters et al. for an early celebration tomorrow night. GK can't come home for Christmas this year, and he called last night to warn us that his leave for New Year's hasn't been approved. If it isn't signed off on by his commanding officer by today, GK won't be able to come home until last January/early February.

Now, I can bitch and moan. Or I can make things earlier on me. Like catering from Olive Garden for tomorrow night's dinner. Buying gifts cards or shop online for presents. Not too much I can do about GK's commanding officer, but I focus on seeing my kid and watching The Witcher with him when he does arrive here. Remind myself that things don't have to be perfect, something both my mom and my mother-in-law did every year, making themselves and everyone else miserable in the process.

And I can write for an hour or two after DH goes to bed. It's quiet, the tree is lit, and there's coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. It's an awesome way to end the day during this insane time of the year.

Books and Pies and Presents! Oh, My!

 

Things have been a little crazy around Chez Harden. DH and his sisters have been attempting to clean out their parents' house for the last several months. That task slowed way down when Sister #2 broke her wrist at the end of August.

So they busted their butts last weekend and plan to do so again this coming weekend. And I'll be hosting our Christmas dinner Saturday night. I'm catering the dinner, and maybe I'll make a pie or two if I have the time on Friday. Which honestly is looking doubtful at the moment.

In the meantime, DH wanted to replace the Christmas tree that drowned in last year's unintentional indoor swimming pool. The new one looks vaguely purple-ish in the photo, but it's a white tree with lights that can be blue (current mode) or white, blinking or not. It looks quite nice without any ornaments. I was surprised he picked something so non-traditional, but then, I want to get a black tree for the library once it's set up. A black tree with white lights to display my collection of of Star Trek ship ornaments.

Unfortunately, with everything else going on, I'm racing around trying to finish my holiday shopping since I have three days left. There was a time I'd have everything done by Thanksgiving, including shipping the out-of-state presents.

Since Invasion!'s release got screwed up, I'm taking the opportunity to review it for typos one last time. Death in Double Mocha is making progress finally. And then this morning, I received a private invitation to submit a short story for a holiday anthology for next year, which the publisher needs by the end of this week.

I have to admit things are never dull in my life.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

It's no secret I'm a huge Wizrd of Oz fan. When This popped up on my YouTube feed, I was beyond ecstatic!